Contraception, divorce and pre-marital relations have the largest levels of moral acceptability across the country.

 

FEWER than one-in-five Canadians think marital infidelity and the use of illegal drugs can be characterized as “morally acceptable” behaviours, a new Research Co. poll has found.

The online survey of a representative national sample asked Canadians whether they considered 21 different issues as “morally acceptable” or “morally wrong.”

Fewer than one-in-four Canadians believe seven of the issues tested are “morally acceptable”: polygamy (21%, +4 since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in June 2024), suicide (20%, +3), cloning animals (19%, =), married men and/or women having an affair (18%, +2), using illegal drugs (also 18%, +4), cloning humans (12%, -1) and paedophilia (8%, +3).

“Almost one-in-four Canadian men (23%) think marital infidelity is morally acceptable,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The proportion is decidedly lower (13%) among Canadian women.”

There is a significant regional divide on this question. Practically one-in-four Quebecers (24%) have no moral qualms about married people having an affair. Fewer than one-in-five residents of all other regions feel the same way.

Two-in-five Canadians (40%, =) think the death penalty is “morally acceptable.” Fewer Canadians feel the same way about four other issues: buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur (38%, +4), pornography (31%, +3), prostitution (28%, +3) and medical testing on animals (25%, +2).

While almost half of Canadian men (46%) think it is “morally acceptable” to buy and wear clothing made of animal fur, only 30% of Canadian women concur.

At least half of Canadians think five other issues are “morally acceptable”: abortion (56%, -2), medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos (55%, =), physician-assisted death (54%, -3), sexual relations between two people of the same sex (also 54%, -1) and gambling (50%, +1).

Gambling is regarded as a “morally acceptable” practice by majorities of Canadians whose origins are East Asian (60%) or Indigenous (56%). The proportions are decidedly lower among Canadians of European (30%) or South Asian (22%) heritage.

The four issues that find the largest levels of moral acceptability across Canada are all related to human interaction: contraception (73%, -3), divorce (70%, -2), sexual relations between an unmarried man and woman (67%, -3) and having a baby outside of marriage (62%, -5).

Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from September 10 to September 12, 2025, among 1,003 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.